Butler Township is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

in Butler County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States. The population was 17,230 at the 2020 census. The township was first settled by Europeans in 1795. It was established as a township in 1804 and as a first class township in 1922.

Geography

Butler Township is located near the center of Butler County and surrounds the city of Butler, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

. The township contains the unincorporated communities of Homeacre-Lyndora,

Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

, Meadowood, and Oak Hills, all of which are

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...

s. The unincorporated town of Lyndora, which has its own post office ( zip code 16045), is located within Butler Township. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

, the township has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.58%, is water.

Connoquenessing Creek Connoquenessing Creek is a tributary of the Beaver River, approximately 50 mi (80 km) long, in Western Pennsylvania in the United States. Course Connoquenessing Creek rises in eastern Butler County and flows southwest, through the L ...

, a tributary of the Beaver River, flows to the southwest out of Butler city and crosses the southern part of the township. In 2000, a scientific study was conducted to determine the health of the creek. Researchers discovered that only the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

received more toxic materials than the Connoquenessing, making the small river the second most polluted waterway in the United States. At the time, the Armco Inc. steel facility in Butler ranked first nationally for the amount of pollutant discharges. However, by 2010, due to reduced industry and clean up efforts, the creek's health has significantly recovered and has become popular for water-sport activities.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2010, there were 17,248 people, 7,409 households, and 4,880 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 7,500 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 98.1%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 0.5%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.5%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, and 0.4% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 0.4% of the population. There were 7,201 households, out of which 26.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.0% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.1% were non-families. 28.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.87. In the township the population was spread out, with 20.7% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 25.4% from 25 to 44, 26.9% from 45 to 64, and 21.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.3 males. The median income for a household in the township was $41,274, and the median income for a family was $51,824. Males had a median income of $41,486 versus $24,818 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the township was $21,218. About 5.0% of families and 6.9% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 6.7% of those under age 18 and 10.4% of those age 65 or over.

Neighborhoods

*Bon Aire *The Boulevard *Bredinville *Castle Heights *Grandview *Greenwood Village *Highfield * Homeacre * Lyndora *Meadowood *

*North Butler *Oak Hills *Stirling Glen *Westwood Manor

Education

Butler Area School District The Butler Area School District is a very large school district in western Pennsylvania. It encompasses approximately and covers the City of Butler, the Boroughs of Connoquenessing and East Butler and Butler Township, Center Township, Clea ...

::*Butler Intermediate High School ::* Butler Senior High School ::*McQuistion Elementary ::*Meridian Elementary ::*Northwest Elementary *

Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantry ...

* Butler County Community College (BC3)

Economy

The

AK Steel AK Steel Holdings Corporation was a steelmaking company headquartered in West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio. The company, whose name was derived from the initials of Armco, its predecessor company, and Kawasaki Steel Corporation, was a ...

Butler Works plant is located entirely in the township on approximately . The main shopping corridor is on New Castle Road and features an array of

strip malls A strip mall, strip center or strip plaza is a type of shopping center common in North America where the stores are arranged in a row, with a sidewalk in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front. ...

and shops. Below is a list of the shopping areas within the township: * Alameda Plaza * Bon Aire Plaza * Butler Commons, formally the Butler Mall * Butler Crossing * Greater Butler Mart * Greenwood Plaza * Moraine Pointe Plaza * Point Plaza

Health

* Butler Memorial Hospital *The

Veterans Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

Medical Center (

VA Butler Healthcare VA Butler Healthcare is a Health Care Center operated by the Department of Veteran Affairs. Serving over 22,000 veterans in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. The hospital is located on a 90-acre campus on New Castle Road ( PA Route 356) in But ...

). The new VA Healthcare Center is on just over the line in Center Township.

Parks and recreation

* Alameda Park, owned and operated by Butler County is entirely within Butler Township. It was once an early amusement park with a small lake. All but the shell of the carousel remains, which has been converted into a pavilion. The lake is also gone.The Butler Historical Society
"Alameda Park"
Retrrived 2020-01-25. The park is heavily forested and features several hiking trails. The lower portion of Alameda Park Road has been closed to automotive traffic since 2007, but is still open to walking, biking, and running. The park also features a public swimming pool, several picnic shelters, a carousel shelter, two playgrounds,

sand volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

courts, and a

bocce (, or , ), sometimes anglicized as bocce ball, bocci or boccie, is a ball sport belonging to the boules family. Developed into its present form in Italy, it is closely related to British bowls and French , with a common ancestry from ancie ...

court. * Butler Township Park, owned and operated by the township, there are walking trails, a playground, a

dek hockey Street hockey (also known as shinny, dek hockey, ball hockey, road hockey) is a collection of team sport variants played outdoors either on foot or with wheeled skates, using a either a ball or puck designed for play on flat, dry surfaces. The o ...

rink and a large hall that is available for rental. * Highfield Park, has several

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

fields, playground and a hall that can be rented. * Preston Park, was the private estate of scientist Dr. Frank W. Preston, a prominent local figure. Upon the death of his wife Jane in 2008, the property was left to the township. The heavily forested park consists of over with various walking trails. The park includes a large pond, the Preston's house and laboratory, an arboretum of several dozen coniferous tree species, a

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

, and the largest examples of several coniferous tree species in Pennsylvania. Listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. *Krendale

Golf Course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

, a 27-hole public golf course *Aubrey's Golf Course, an 18-hole public golf course

Transportation

Pennsylvania Route 68 Pennsylvania Route 68 (PA 68) is a east–west state highway located in western Pennsylvania in the United States. The western terminus of the route is at the Ohio state line west of Glasgow, where PA 68 continues into Ohio as State Route ...

(Evans City Road/East Jefferson Street) and PA Route 356 (New Castle Road/Center Avenue/Freeport Road) are major roads in the township. PA Route 8 (Pittsburgh Road and North Main Street Extension) passes through the township in a north–south direction on either side of the city limits of Butler. U.S. Route 422, a limited-access highway, runs through the township near its northern edge as it bypasses the city. The township is also served by ''The Bus'', operated by the Butler Transit Authority.